


You're my Inspiration

by apisa_b



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fanfiction, No Pregnancy, T is for thirst, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22418605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apisa_b/pseuds/apisa_b
Summary: The TA in Rey's class looked exactly how Rey envisioned the main antagonist in the newest installment of theAcross the Starsbook series- the very same villain on which Rey had developed a hyper-fixation, and was writing fanfiction for whenever she could spare the time.What was a girl to do, when she suddenly had a living and breathing model on which to base her writing on, except study said model and write down anything she could about him for further reference?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 14
Kudos: 110
Collections: Reylo Charity Anthology: Volume 2





	You're my Inspiration

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to dedicate this fic to [Diasterisms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diasterisms/pseuds/diasterisms), who once shared in the RFFA chat that she had been informed that a former professor of hers was reading one of her stories (the infamous LWABOC), and she worried he might find out she was the author. We reassured her that as long as her professor wouldn't recognize himself in one of the characters, she would be fine.
> 
> Since then, the plot for this little fic has been in the back of my mind.

_He stalked._

Rey followed her teaching assistant’s progress down the line of tables with her eyes while he continued to explain the class’s newest assignment. She should probably take notes, but she knew she could copy everything relevant she might have missed from Rose after class. With a quick glance to the side, she reassured herself that Rose was indeed diligently taking notes, and then looked down onto her own notepad where she added _stalking_ to the list of words she had assembled. She would be able to gather all necessary information regarding the assignment from the onslaught of questions asking for clarification, which was bound to start as soon as he finished speaking.

It wasn’t her fault that she had trouble paying attention since Ben Solo had taken over this class in Professor Skywalker’s absence. After all, with his tall physique, dark hair, and ruggedly handsome face, he looked exactly how Rey envisioned the main antagonist in the newest installment of the _Across the Stars_ book series- the very same villain on which Rey had developed a hyper-fixation, and was writing fanfiction for whenever she could spare the time.

It didn’t help either (to Rey’s delight), that in addition to a wry sense of humor her teaching assistant had a rather sarcastic streak that he didn’t exactly hide. He delivered the most delicious double-layered remarks in his deep, velvety voice without even batting an eye–and half of the class never even realized that they ought to be insulted by what he just said. Rey had a separate section in her notebook reserved for jotting down his lines.

So you see, it really wasn’t her fault at all. What was a girl to do, when she suddenly had a living and breathing model on which to base her writing on, except study said model and write down anything she could about him for further reference?

He definitely stalked. He took long strides, had a rolling gait, and moved gracefully and with control despite his long limbs. Almost like a predator on the prowl.

Rey hummed and jotted that thought down in her notebook as well.

 _Get a grip, girl, and your mind out of the gutter while you’re at it_ , Rey mentally chastised herself. He was her TA, for goodness sake.

 _Not for much longer_ , her traitorous brain supplied. Rey would be graduating in a few weeks, if all went according to plan. She was nearly finished with the mechanical engineering program, having had the opportunity to finish many courses in the college’s summer session program, so her class schedule this last term was actually surprisingly relaxed. For the first time since she’d enrolled at Ahch-Tho University, Rey felt she could actually enjoy her life as a student; for the first time, her courseload and her job at Plutt’s did not have her constantly teetering on the verge of a mental and physical breakdown. At least not yet, as the papers for her last engineering classes were not due for another couple of weeks.

When calculating her credits at the end of last term, she and Rose had had a short moment of panic when they realized that they were a couple of credits short for their humanities requirements. Rey couldn’t fathom how that could have happened, but at least they’d discovered their mistake while they were still able to rectify it without having to postpone their graduation. They both settled on Professor Skywalker’s entry-level philosophy class, mainly because Rose had started to become interested in philosophy over her favorite K-pop band’s references in their song lyrics and promotional videos, and Rey decided that she could stand to remedy her own lack of education in that department.

They’d been warned about Professor Skywalker; he was aloof towards his students, and the workload he placed on his students was off the charts. Well, no offense to humanities majors, Rey thought, but if they felt the workload in Skywalker’s class was hard, then they wouldn’t stand a chance in engineering. Compared to Professor Ackbar’s classes, this course had turned out to be a walk in the park. On the other hand, Rey and Rose were no wide-eyed freshmen anymore. They were seniors within spitting distance of graduation, and used to a heavier workload than most students attending this entry-level class.

“–An approximately 500 word long response on asceticism in religion, to be handed in before Sunday at 12:00pm. You should all have drawn a colored piece of paper from the stack by now.”

Rey looked down at the small rectangular slip of yellow paper she had automatically taken from the stack she had been handed from the person on her right, and subsequently passed on to Rose, who held a red one in her hand.

“Yellow means you have to write about asceticism in Abrahamic religions, red means Indian religions. And I know who usually sits next to whom and should not be writing about the same topic, so swapping is futile and will only end in a deduction of points.”

Hands in the front row immediately shot into the air, and Rey could practically envision the eye-roll her TA was suppressing right then and there. To be fair, he answered all questions regarding their assignment patiently, but as soon as the questions started to become repetitive, his answers got more and more scathing and were accompanied by arched eyebrows.

“What part of ‘to be handed in on Sunday 12:00 pm’ was not clear, Miss Netal? I’m aware there is a frat party on Saturday, but you have to learn to find a balance between your social and academic life,” he responded to Baz Netal, who’d asked for an extension with batting eyelids and a pout, even when they had not even started the assignment.

“You know about the party? Are you going to be there as well?” the girl asked flirtatiously.

“There is always one, Miss Netal. In which universe do you think I can be found at a frat party?” Ben–he had told them to call him Ben when he introduced himself as Professor Skywalker’s teaching assistant at the beginning of the first class, which he probably regretted by now–responded acerbically, and levelled a withering look at her.

Rey had to work hard to suppress the snigger that threatened to escape her. When he turned around to stalk back to his desk, his sweeping gaze briefly met Rey‘s, and she let her eyes roll, which he answered with a slight curl of his lips.

“Any more questions?” he asked, and deliberately ignored Baz’s waving hand. “Then you’re dismissed. Happy writing.”

At once, the noise level in the room rose as students stood up, pushing their chairs back and chattering. Some students made a beeline towards Ben, but sadly, Rey couldn’t understand what he was telling them over all the noise. Judging from his facial expressions though, he’d completely lost his patience by now.

“Could we go over the hydrodynamics homework together over lunch? I think I took a wrong turn with the formula somewhere, but can’t for the life of me figure out where,” Rose asked her, shaking her out of her reverie.

“Of course. Let’s go and find a spot at the coffee shop near the library.”

With one last glance towards her now-scowling TA, Rey followed Rose out of the classroom.

\--------------------

‘ _Thank you for writing this story! Your characterization of Kylo really resonated with me._ ’

For a moment, Ben contemplated what he could add to the comment. His words seemed bland and didn’t convey how deeply the story moved him, but it was late and he should really start reading the responses for Luke’s philosophy class that had started to trickle in.

With a sigh, he sent the comment, but couldn’t resist throwing one last look at the author’s profile. She–statistically, it had to be a woman, and the pseudonym Kira_Sunshine pointed towards belonging to a woman as well–had published a few stories already, but the one he stumbled over earlier that evening by chance had been her first character study of Kylo Ren. Her other stories were of the shipping variety, something Ben avoided reading most of the time; from his experience, such stories could get pretty racy, and he felt oddly intrusive when reading them. Although he had absolutely no qualms watching porn, reading explicit fanfiction felt more voyeuristic to him–almost as if he were intruding into the writer’s secret erotic fantasy. Oh, he read erotica, make no mistake, but somehow the books he’d read always seemed to be written with the male angle in mind, and thus seemed less intimate than the racy fanfictions he’d encountered on this site. The few he’d read had turned out to be very…educational and enlightening, he had to admit.

 _Pity she hasn’t written more character studies_ , Ben thought, and decided to bookmark the author nonetheless as her writing really struck a chord with him, before he closed the browser tab and logged onto the university’s server.

It was 11:30 pm, and a fair share of students had already uploaded their assignments. Well, the rest still had half an hour to do so. A quick survey of the list confirmed his assessment of the students in this course. As predicted, Miss Netal as well as Miss Connix were cutting it close to the deadline. Miss Jaxson and Miss Tico, on the other hand, had turned their work in early according to the time-stamp.

Rey Jaxson. He couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on her name.

She was the first woman who had caught his eye when he returned into the academic world after a five-year stint with _First Order Pharmaceuticals_ , which had left him no time to even consider dating. He’d just come out of his first meeting with his uncle Luke, who would be the academic advisor regarding his PhD as well as the professor he would work for as a teaching assistant, when he laid eyes on her for the first time.

In said first meeting with his uncle, emotions had run high as Luke laid down the terms of their working relationship. He made it clear that Ben had to earn his trust the hard way, as he thought Ben’s ethical viewpoint to be badly compromised from having worked so long for a big, money-grabbing corporation. Hearing that had hurt and he had to clamp down on the anger that started to flare, but as the reason he’d quit his well-paid position stemmed from not being able to look at himself in the mirror without disgust anymore (years of suppressing his innate moral compass while refuting all- entirely justified- ethical concerns directed at studies performed by _FOP_ will do that to someone) he’d taken the blows Luke dealt him that day without complaint. He’d stormed down the stairs of the faculty’s main building afterwards, needing an outlet for his pent up feelings, when a motorcycle came to halt at the other side of the road. Motorcycles were a rare sight on campus, rare enough that he stopped long enough to eye the bike with interest. It was an old bike, looking almost like his father’s old Corellian, which had lovingly been dubbed _The Falcon_.

If the memories that rose up with seeing that bike hadn’t managed to knock the wind out of him, the beauty of the woman emerging from under the helmet did for sure. Big, expressive eyes under delicate eyebrows, an almost perfectly-proportioned straight nose, full lips, angular features, and a dimple-popping smile that lit up her face when she greeted someone to Ben’s left. Ben couldn’t help but stare at that face and wish that megawatt smile was directed at him. Only when she gracefully dismounted her bike did he allow himself to let his eyes wander over her slender figure, long legs and shapely backside. She couldn’t check any more of his boxes if she tried.

Before Ben was able to get his bearings again, she had secured her bike and met up with the person she’d smiled at. To his very irrational delight, her interaction with the dark-skinned young man she’d greeted so enthusiastically indicated a close friendship rather than a relationship, as they hugged each other and exchanged salutatory-kisses, but maintained no further contact when walking away together. Noticing that he was acting like a creep by staring after them, Ben forcefully pulled his eyes away from her, hoping that he would see her again on campus.

\--------------------

The universe sometimes had a sick sense of humor when answering prayers. Ben was given a forceful reminder of this when he actually did see her again as one of Luke’s students in the entry-level philosophy class he was assisting with. He now knew her name, and was seeing her on a regular basis, but she was as good as his student, and as such, off-limits. He took slight consolation in the fact that she was in her senior year, which made the age gap between them slightly less pronounced, and he felt less uncomfortable in having been drawn to her in the first place. Her being an engineering student also meant that it was highly unlikely that they would meet in a classroom situation ever again. Ben consoled himself that all he had to do was make it through this term, and should he meet her again somewhere in the future, he actually would have a basis to talk to her–if he managed to rack up the nerve to do so. His chances to meet her again were pretty slim though; he assumed she was going to leave Ahch-Tho after graduation.

Now, more than half a term later, Ben knew that Rey Jaxson was not only beautiful, rode a motorbike, but was a hard-working, intelligent student and had a sense of humor that matched his, were he to draw conclusions from the slight snorts she couldn’t help to suppress in class when amused, or the adorable eye-rolls she made, often at times when he had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, as that was hardly an appropriate response in front of a class. None of which diminished his ire at the universe for placing the perfect woman in front of him without him being in a place to actually approach her.

Ben knew he was setting the bar high when he decided to read her work first. So far the only things he’d read from her were the responses she’d given to the questions on Luke’s midterm exam. Those answers, given under time constraints, were concise, thought through, and well-phrased, and he really was looking forward to reading something she’d had time to formulate.

“ _For Christian monks, the drab colors and shapelessness of their garbs was meant to convey the fundamental unimportance of the physical form._ ”

Ben paused, pursed his lips, and raised an eyebrow. Neither the sentence nor its message were in any way unusual in an essay about asceticism, quite the contrary, but something in that sentence tugged at him. He’d read something formulated quite similarly today, in a completely different context. He opened another browser window, logged onto AO3, and pulled up the last _Across the Stars_ fanfiction he’d read today - the character study of Kylo Ren. He quickly skimmed over it again. Yes, here it was.

_Just like it was for the Jedi, Kylo’s dark robes weren’t a uniform as much as a placeholder, a lack of fashion choice. Their dark colors and their shapelessness, if anything, was meant only to convey the unimportance of his physical form._

How curious that he’d missed this earlier, but it appeared that Kira_Sunshine was maybe interested in philosophy, or at least drew on the knowledge her philosophy 101 classes instilled in her. Ben decided to read her other stories as well, regardless of their genre or rating. Out of pure academic curiosity, of course.

\--------------------

Rey was dying a slow death; the heating system in the classroom seemed to be broken - the radiators either weren’t turned up full-force, or didn’t work at all. When they’d entered the room it had been chilly, despite the thermostat being set at a reasonable temperature. Some fiddling from the students sitting closest to the heating units revealed that only when they were turned all the way up could the radiators be persuaded to warm up at all. And then it became not just warm, but scorching hot.

Half an hour into Professor Skywalker’s lecture, each student had not only shed their coats and scarves, but as many outer layers as they could without veering into indecency. Rey couldn’t take off her sweater, because the tank top underneath it was so old and ratty that she didn’t want anybody to lay eyes on it. She was feeling uncomfortably hot, even without taking Ben Solo into account, who was currently rolling up the sleeves of his button down right in her line of vision. Not that she was actively trying to look away.

Today he was wearing a green and black plaid shirt. He’d worn a cardigan over it initially, but that had long been tossed. Plaid shirts should not look sexy. They were not designed to look sexy. And yet…here she was, barely able to tear away her gaze from the way said plaid hugged Ben’s broad shoulders, or how, with certain movements, the shirt strained over his chest.

Rey had inadvertently started to wriggle in her seat, earning her curious looks from Rose.

And that was before he had started to roll up his shirt sleeves. There was something irresistible about watching Ben roll up his shirt sleeves. He was so meticulous and thorough about it that it was impossible for Rey to take her eyes away. The way each folding back of material exposed formerly-hidden skin was tantalizing. Suddenly, Rey could understand how an exposed ankle could have been perceived as indecent in former times.

Ben’s forearms were dusted with dark hair, and yet she could make out the veins running down to his hands. His actions brought to her attention how his hands were actually quite large, easily twice the size of hers. In her agitated state, Rey could only imagine how much of her body he could cover with one of his hands, or how those hands would look resting on her bare skin.

She really needed to get a grip on herself.

Rey closed her eyes and made an effort to slowly breathe in and out in an attempt to center and calm herself. Professor Skywalker’s class was not the right environment to be horny. When she opened her eyes again, Ben had thankfully moved out of her line of vision, and she didn’t even try to find out where he’d wandered off to. She kept her eyes firmly trained to the front of the classroom and concentrated on the lecture.

Until she heard Ben quietly speak to a student behind her. The deep rumbling of his voice was enough to shatter any focus she might have had and draw her attention toward him. It was like her senses were completely attuned to him.

“…but it means to remove all affection for life,” Temmin whispered forcefully. Before class, he had complained that he felt he had been graded unfairly on his response.

“Impressive, every word in that sentence was wrong,” Ben answered, his voice almost devoid of inflection.

Rey’s eyes widened. He hadn’t just used a quote from the last book of the _Across the Stars_ series...or had he? Slowly, she turned her head to look back. Ben was leaning down, his hands braced on the tabletop, head bent, with his shaggy locks obscuring his face. As if he felt her gaze, he looked up and winked at her, almost conspiratorially.

“I suggest you stop talking before you make it seem like you have not only not understood the suggested reading material, but simply opted to not read it.”

“But–“

“Read it again, and hopefully then you’ll understand.” With those words Ben straightened up, and returned to his usual spot in the front of the class.

Rey sighed, determined not to let his form distract her again.

\--------------------

‘ _As he took off his coat and suit jacket, I settled in for my daily show; the sleeve roll-up. And what show it was, every single night. You’d think it would get repetitive, but no. Just no._ ’

Ben paused in his reading. His eyebrows were raised so high, they probably vanished under his hairline. Kira_Sunshine had posted a new chapter to her current WIP, a modern AU–Ben grappled with the concept of AUs, if he was being honest–based on the premise of a fake marriage. Nothing was like it was in _Across the Stars_ , and yet, everything was. As talented as the author was, the characters were fully recognizable from canon, their dynamics between them echoing those of Kira and Kylo in the books. At first he hadn’t wanted to read the story, but now he was intrigued and wanted to know what was going to happen next.

The last paragraph had given him pause, though. Rolled-up sleeves were something women found attractive? It was just forearms. What did women see in forearms? His thoughts circled back to yesterday’s lecture in Luke’s overheated classroom. He had rolled up his sleeves there. Had that distracted some of the students in the room? Could the lovely blush staining Rey Jackson’s face have been caused by her being affected by his rolled up sleeves, and not because she was feeling hot in her sweater?

“Yeah, sure, Solo. And if wishes were horses, this beggar would win a race,” he chastised himself. Why would Rey even be attracted to someone like him, someone ten years her senior? Someone who was too tall, with too large a nose and ears too big and overall too many flaws to count?

Ben tried to shift his attention back to the story he was reading, but the fact that Kira_Sunshine had basically described Kylo as warrior monk at the same time he had Luke’s students write about asceticism, and that she basically wrote forearm porn the day after he had exposed his forearms in class nibbled at his awareness. He was being ridiculous–but he could dream about Kira_Sunshine being one of his students, right?

He leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head. Who could she be? His obvious choice would be Rey, of course. From the way she reacted to him using that quote today, he’d surmise that she knew the books, and from her essay he could tell that her writing was good. She could pull it off, that was for sure. Plus, he really, really wanted her to notice him.

He imagined being in class, her sitting in her usual place. He would hold her gaze, and slowly start to unbutton the cuffs of his pristinely white shirt. She would start to bite her lip, and her eyes would drop down to his arms, and flicker back up again. With a knowing smirk, he would then start to roll up the sleeve of his left arm, and she would unashamedly let her gaze drop to be able to follow the movement of his hands, let her eyes linger on the newly exposed skin. His eyes would never stray from her form though, and once she’d looked up again and beheld the smirk on his face, she’d know that he knew exactly what he was doing to her; that this show was exclusively for her benefit. He imagined the blush that would bloom on her cheeks, and the way she would bite her lips before ducking her head, only to keep watching him through her lashes.

Ben groaned and shifted in his seat to adjust the suddenly uncomfortable tight seat of his trousers. He was such a pervert, lusting after one of the students in Luke’s class. He really must get a grip on this–at least until the end of the term. As soon as she stops being one of Luke’s students, he could let his thoughts roam, but until then he must put a lid on his urges.

\--------------------

The first thing Rey noticed as she slid into her seat next to Rose was that Ben wasn’t here yet. Normally he was the first in the room, and answered questions until Prof. Skywalker showed up. Rey frowned and looked around, until her eyes met Rose’s.

“Is your date showing up late?” Rose joked.

Rose knew about her obsession with their handsome teaching assistant, and took every opportunity to tease her about it, just like Rey would if the tables were turned.

“Har, har, very funny.” Rey deadpanned and grimaced. “But don’t you think it’s odd that nobody is here yet?”

“Well, somebody must have been here to open the room. Maybe they left because they’d forgotten something?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Rey conceded and reached in her bag for her notebook and pen.

When Ben didn’t show up five minutes into Prof. Skywalker’s lecture, Rey had given up hope to see him this week, and started to worry instead. Did he have someone to care for him in case he falls ill?

When the door finally opened and Ben walked up to the front as quietly as he could as to not interrupt and handed Professor Skywalker some papers, Rey couldn’t decide whether the breath she finally let escape was relief that he was not ill or lying in a ditch somewhere, or…fascination. So far, she’d only ever seen Ben clean-shaven, and she’d liked that just fine. It would have been a shame to hide his face behind a beard, after all. Today, he sported stubble around his mouth and chin, and Rey never would have thought it possible, but it enhanced his appeal. The slightly rugged look suited him, and Rey wondered just how the stubble would feel against her skin while kissing him…

“Close your mouth, you’re drooling,” Rose whispered into her ear.

“Shut up, I’m not!”

Rose’s eyes twinkled as she waggled her eyebrows at Rey.

“Are you sure, though?”

Rey only rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate on the lecture, but her eyes were continuously drawn to Ben Solo of their own volition. She definitely hadn’t given them permission to do so. He was leaning casually against the wall, his hands tucked into the front pockets of his loose-fitting slacks. The denim button down he wore today was not as tight around the shoulders as the shirts he usually wore, and it made Rey wonder if he had maybe lost weight.

As if feeling her gaze on him, Ben turned his head and looked straight at her. A blush heated her cheeks, but she couldn’t look away, almost as if she were under a spell. A small smile started to curl his lips, the scruff somehow making it more noticeable, and Rey felt butterflies dancing low in her belly.

Only the sound of a pen hitting the floor and the accompanying curse of the student who dropped it broke the spell, and Rey reluctantly tore her gaze away.

\--------------------

_‘He’s sporting dark scruff on his jawline, giving him a slightly dangerous look. I suck in a gulp of air. I’ve never seen him with sexy facial hair before, and it’s…it’s…’_

Ben blinked at the screen, his fingers running over the scruff on his own chin. Between the grading of essays for Luke’s various classes, the research for his own PhD and the strenuous exercise regimen he had needed lately to channel his excess energy and keep his thoughts from drifting to Rey, he simply could not be bothered with shaving the last couple of days. The trouble with not shaving daily was that what usually took just a couple of minutes of his time every morning became a far more time-consuming affair after skipping it a few days in a row. The electric shaver wouldn’t be able to get through it anymore, and he either needed to use the trimmer before shaving, or he would need to have a wet shave. Drawing it out for longer was not an option, as the scruff was itchy and he wanted to get rid of the unpleasant feeling. He wished he could grow a beard, though. A real beard, and not just a few stray hairs around his mouth and chin. At least a beard would save him from the long moments he had to stare at his face in the mirror every time he had to shave.

Ben sighed and decided to get it over and done with. It was late already anyway.

While lathering up his skin, his thoughts wandered back to Kira_Sunshine’s story. It was eerie. There was that old saying that once was chance, twice was coincidence, third time was a pattern–and Ben could definitely see a pattern evolving here. It was probably just wishful thinking, because that pattern would mean that the author would base her version of Kylo on him. Him! The thought alone was inconceivable, and Ben shook his head at his own foolish notion.

On the up side, it had looked as if Rey was checking him out the other day. She’d blushed when he caught her staring, but she hadn’t looked away. He knew it was inappropriate, but he couldn’t help himself– he’d held her gaze. If he could have stayed like that for hours, he would have. It had been a magical moment.

Maybe she was interested in him after all.

The term would end soon. Finals were scheduled all through next week, and he would be drowning in papers waiting to be graded. By the time he came up for air again, Rey would be gone. Ben closed his eyes, his hands gripping the sink until his knuckles turned white, anger at the unfairness of it all welling up.

\--------------------

Ben was running on fumes. If students thought finals week was hell, they should try being on the other side of the equation. Luke had Ben pre-grade all of the papers and essays for his lower level courses, and if Ben never had to look at another essay, it would be too soon. He wasn’t even halfway done with them, despite averaging at three hours of sleep per night and only eating takeaway in his office with his eyes glued to the screen.

After growling in frustration and only barely suppressing the urge to throw his notebook out of the window when he finished grading the paper in front of him, he knew that if he had to spend another minute in his office, he would go crazy. He needed a change from the vile concoction they called coffee stewing in the breakroom and get himself some of the good stuff from the nearest coffee shop. Being out in the sunshine and able to stretch his legs alone was enough to lift his mood considerably, and Ben decided it probably would be better for the students–and his sanity–if he went to the gym for a bit every day, even with Luke breathing down his neck regarding the grading.

With no desire to get back into the office anytime soon, he looked around after he’d been handed his poison of choice and found a small table in the back of the shop. On his way there, he noticed a familiar form hunkered over her notebook, hammering away on the keyboard. He couldn’t recall ever seeing anybody but Rey wear their hair pulled back in three buns down the back of their head, so he was fairly sure it was her, even though she was sitting with her back to him. When he passed her table, his eyes fell on the screen of her computer, and without trying to read what she was writing, two words jumped out: Kylo and Kira.

When his brain processed what his eyes just saw, he faltered and nearly dropped the cup he was holding, causing hot coffee to spill over his fingers. The curse, which escaped his lips at his clumsiness, caused Rey to look up, and she instinctively minimized the word processor she used.

“Ben! Hi!” she exclaimed, apparently genuinely pleased to see him.

“Hi! It’s nice seeing you here.” Ben internally winced at his words. Smooth, he really was not.

“You look tired, if I may say so. Is everything all right?” Rey looked concerned. After a beat, she added, “If you don’t mind me asking. You don’t have to answer that, obviously.”

“No, it’s all right. Too much grading and not enough sunlight, that’s all. But thanks for asking. I, uh…” Ben gestured towards the table he wanted to claim, only to notice that someone else had taken it while he talked to Rey. His shoulders fell. Apparently, the fates were telling him to go back to his grading.

“You can sit here with me, if you want,” Rey offered, almost shyly.

“You don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I did.”

“Thank you!”

Ben put his coffee on the table, peeled off his outer layers and placed them on the seat next to him, then folded himself rather awkwardly into his own chair while Rey closed her notebook.

“No, please, don’t let me disturb you.” Ben put his hand up in an attempt to stop her.

“I wasn’t making progress anyway,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Maybe taking a break will help.”

“I thought that all classes have ended by now?” He almost felt guilty for trying to find out how she would answer this.

“Oh that.” Rey waved her hand in front of her face and laughed, almost embarrassed. “That is just a little bit of creative writing. An indulgence.” Heat started to blossom on her cheeks, and she ducked her head.

“Well, that explains it, then.”

“Explains what?” She looked up again, frowning.

“The quality of your essays. You’re honing your writing skills with creative writing, that’s why the wording is so sophisticated.”

“Oh?”

Rey seemed genuinely surprised and flattered by his words. The blush that’d started to fade was coming back in full force. She looked adorably flustered.

“I can’t say more, since the marks are not yet out, but I enjoyed reading your work. Truly.”

“Thank you.”

They smiled at each other, and Ben nervously sipped at his coffee.

“So, uhm, what’s next for you? What are your plans after graduation? You _are_ graduating, aren’t you?”

“Yes, next Thursday.” She nodded for emphasis. “But no grad school, no. At least not right away. I managed to get an internship over in Chandrila. A paid internship!” She smiled proudly. “It won’t cover the full cost of living, but I can at least reduce the hours I put in at Plutt’s to a few weekend shifts. Just enough so I can keep my studio over Plutt’s garage at the Outpost.”

“May I ask which firm you will be working at in Chandrila?” Ben was leaning forward ever so slightly, barely able to conceal his excitement. She wouldn’t be out of his reach! He lived in Chandrila; maybe he could meet her again after all.

“For Bespin, Inc.,” Rey said. “They develop appliances for gas mining.”

Ben could have danced when he heard her answer. It seemed that the fates smiled on him for once.

“Give the owner my best, will you?”

Rey blinked in confusion.

“Anyway, I have to get back to my office. The grading sadly won’t finish itself.” Ben hurriedly stood and grabbed his coat. “It was nice chatting with you. Uhm, all the best for your internship!”

With a last smile directed at her, he strode out quickly before he managed to make any more of a fool of himself. One thing was for sure, Ben decided almost giddily: Uncle Lando was going to get some surprise visits at the office in the near future.

\--------------------

“And that’s Mr. Lobot, the head of IT,” Tallie, a vibrant young systems engineer who was showing Rey the ropes, pointed to a bald man wearing a bluetooth headset in one ear.

“The department heads frequent the same cafeteria as the rest of the staff?” Rey was incredulous. At Plutt’s garage, Rey was part of a small team, but Plutt would not be caught dead in the dingy break room his underlings frequented.

“Of course, why wouldn’t they? Even Mr. Calrissian comes to eat in here from time to time.”

Rey let her eyes roam around the room. Before starting here at Bespin Inc., she never would have thought a company cafeteria could be so warm and inviting–just like the whole company, really. It was only her third day here, but already Rey passionately hoped to be able to stay once her internship ended. Chances for her hopes to come true were actually quite high, as they told the interns at orientation that more hands on deck were desperately needed. The work environment was great here. All the colleagues she met so far had been nice and helpful, the company tried to accommodate their employees in terms of flexible work hours, there was a gym on the premise, and last but not least: the food they offered in the cafeteria at a very reasonable price was just delicious.

“Oh, speak of the devil–”

“What?” Rey snapped out of her reverie and looked at Tallie again. “Speaking of whom?”

“Lando. Here he comes. Right on cue.”

Rey had been introduced to the CEO of Bespin Inc. along with the other interns on her first day. He’d given them a warm welcome along with the hopes that some of them might want to stay on after their internship ended, and took the time to exchange a couple of words with each of them. Although in his sixties, he was still a very handsome man, charismatic and prone to flirting, but never making anyone feel uncomfortable while doing so.

When Rey turned her head towards where Tallie was looking, her breath caught. Her colleague had been right. Lando Calrissian had just stepped through the door, smiling brightly and talking animatedly with his hands to someone towering over him. Someone with dark, shaggy locks, broad shoulders, a scruffy jaw and a very familiar profile, which caused Rey’s heartbeat to increase in speed.

“Ohhh, who’s that? If he’s a new hire, I’m calling dibs!” Tallie force-whispered next to her.

Rey’s head whipped back, and she had to suppress the urge to growl. The sudden flare of possessiveness she felt surprised her.

“He’s not. A new hire, I mean.”

“Do you know him?”

“He was a teaching assistant in a philosophy class I took last term. He told me to give the boss his best when I told him about my internship here. Apparently, that was not meant as a joke,” Rey mused.

“You lucky bitch.”

“What?”

“Having been able to ogle all that on a weekly basis,” Tallie waved her hand up and down at Ben’s general direction, and let her eyes follow him around the room. Once again he was not entirely clean shaven, which made him look ravishing, his hair was slightly disheveled, as if he’d frequently ran his hands through it, and the top of his shirt was unbuttoned, drawing her eyes down to his undoubtedly chiseled chest.

“It was rather distracting, I have to admit,” Rey sighed dreamily, and Tallie chuckled.

“I can only imagine.”

As if feeling their eyes on him, Ben lifted his head and his gaze met Rey’s. A huge lump was suddenly lodged in her throat, and breathing became a challenge. The hustle and bustle of the cafeteria faded to a dull roar as all of Rey’s senses focused on the man straight ahead of her. The space between them seemed to hum with energy, and Rey could practically feel electricity zipping along her skin. Her lips felt too dry, and her tongue darted out to moisture her lips.

“Well, well, I guess he missed seeing you too,” Rey heard Tallie say. It took a while for her words to penetrate the haze she was in.

“What?”

“You two should get a room, that is what I’m saying.” Rey’s colleague laughed and elbowed her, effectively breaking the spell she was under. She blinked and shook her head to clear the haze, and when she looked to Ben again, he was smiling down at Mr. Calrissian, as if their eyes had never locked.

“Are you able to go back to work?” Tallie asked her, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Or do you need some time in the fresher first?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Rey didn’t deign that with an answer, only smacked her arm, rose from her seat, and grabbed her tray.

\--------------------

Bathed in the artificial light of the streetlamp, the battered motorcycle looked almost decent. Almost being the keyword. Ben could see that it had been restored lovingly, albeit with used parts, and the thought that Rey apparently commuted to Chandrila with it every day made him feel uneasy.

He’d been thinking about her often during the last couple of days. And nights, if he were honest with himself. Every evening his eyes lingered on the bookmark he’d set on the author’s profile he believed was Rey’s pseudonym, but he never clicked on it. He was torn between wanting to read all her stories and respecting her privacy. On one hand, her stories were hosted on a public site, but then again, she was writing under a pseudonym, thinking nobody would make the connection between her and her online name. Of course, he couldn’t be sure that Rey actually _was_ Kira_Sunshine, it could all be coincidence, but somehow, he doubted it. So he refrained from reading, hoping against all odds that maybe he got the right impression, and Rey was actually be interested in him, preposterous as it sounded. He’d much rather find out what she liked directly from her than reading about it, anyway.

He couldn’t get her out of his mind, and although he knew she wasn’t at Ahch-To anymore, he couldn’t stop looking for her. Today, after another trip to the coffee shop where his eyes fell to the table he briefly sat with her last week, he caved in and drove back to Chandrila to visit his godfather Lando so he could feel closer to her just by being in the same building. The odds of actually being able to see her were minimal to nonexistent to begin with, but somehow the fates seemed to have taken pity on him. For one glorious moment, their eyes met and time seemed to stand still, all sounds fading away; leaving him with a feeling of connectedness he had never felt before.

Lando, of course had caught on, and instantly started teasing him but provided the time she was bound to end her shift as a parting gift, emphasizing that he approved of him asking Rey out. The rather rude joke involving his…little star-fighter he made had Ben remembering why he hadn’t visited his godfather all that often in the past years, despite loving him dearly.

Therefore, here he was, leaning against his car in the employee’s parking area, willing time to speed up and slow down at the same time. He still had absolutely no idea what to say to her without sounding like a creep.

The opening of the entrance door accompanied by laughter shook Ben from his reverie. He watched Rey approach him, noticed her frown when she saw someone lurking near her bike, and how it gradually changed into a surprised smile as she recognized him.

“I take it giving my regards to Mr. Calrissian was not meant to be a joke,” she teased him when she finally stood before him. She was bundled up tight, her slender figure encompassed in a thick jacket, her hands hidden in its pockets.

“No, it was not. He’s my godfather. And he wants me to relay his thanks to you.”

“Huh?” Rey blinked her eyes in confusion.

“For the surprise visit he got from me. He hadn’t seen me in a while.”

“Does he really have to thank me for it?”

“Absolutely.” Ben smiled, and he saw Rey’s eyes dart down to his lips. “I was hoping to see you.”

Her eyes darted back up to meet his gaze and her lips parted in surprise.

“I wanted to know how you were faring. Whether you liked it here. And most importantly…whether you wanted to tell me all this maybe over a cup of coffee, or something to eat?”

Rey didn’t answer immediately, and lead started to pool in his stomach, but then she broke out in a blinding smile and tilted her head.

“Why, are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Solo?” she asked him playfully.

“That depends. Would you say yes?” Ben held his breath as Rey took a step towards him.

“The chances for that are pretty high.” She was definitely flirting with him, and Ben only hoped he wasn’t about to muck this up spectacularly.

“Well then, Rey, would you like to have coffee with me?”

“With pleasure.” Rey had taken another step towards him. She was close enough for him to see the golden flecks in her beautiful hazel eyes and smell her flowery perfume. “When?”

“No time like the present.” Ben’s eyes had dropped to her mouth, and it took all the self-control he could muster not to reach out and pull her against him. “If you have time, that is.”

She seemed to consider for a moment, and Ben’s hopes sank--but then she grinned cheekily, and made flourishing motion with her arm.

“I’m all yours!”

“Well then,” Ben said as he straightened up from where he was leaning against his car, opened the passenger door and held out his hand to her. “Your carriage awaits.”

\--------------------

She really didn’t want this evening to end, but she still had to make the 20 minutes’ drive home to the outpost, and she was growing increasingly tired by the minute. Coffee with Ben at some sort of geek café, where the drinks and snacks were named after characters and planets from her favorite book series, turned into dinner, and now, hours later, they were both reluctant to part from each other.

Rey couldn’t remember ever having enjoyed someone’s company on a first date quite as much as Ben’s. He was good-looking, but from the self-deprecating remarks and jokes he made it was clear that he was quite unaware of the effect he had on women, which was a huge turn-on for Rey. She had been on dates with men who were good-looking, knew it, and acted like God’s gift to womankind; those dates had been the stuff of nightmares, and more often than not ended with her shooting an SOS text to one of her friends so they could come up with a rescue plan.

Ben was thoughtful, witty, a really good listener, and–as it turned out–a fan of the _Across the Stars_ book series, just like her. They thought about some of the books’ themes differently, but he never lectured her on how she should interpret the books like she was used to from other male fans she’d encountered. Instead, he listened to her point of view and her interpretations, even conceded that she listed things he’d never thought about before, and politely agreed to disagree where they couldn’t find common ground. This really was a breath of fresh air, especially as the _Across the Stars_ fandom was dominated by male fans who tended to disregard and belittle women entering what they saw as ‘their domain’.

“The two of us should start a book club and re-read the series before the last one comes out next year,” Ben suggested.

Was this Ben’s way of asking to spend time together and go out with each other again? Despite his body language being a classic textbook example for interest, he hadn’t actively touched her at all so far, despite all the heated gazes they’d exchanged. At one point, when Rey was distracted by him rolling up his sleeves, he smirked and Rey got the impression that he might have known what he was doing just then; that he knew about her little–ok, not so little–hand and forearm kink. Rey’s eyes rested on the table where his arm rested closely next to hers, close enough to feel the heat he was radiating without touching her. All she had to do to feel his skin was to extend her pinkie finger–and she did.

“That would be awesome,” she answered him, quickly looking up to gauge his reaction. “We could text each other in between ‘book club meetings’.”

Ben’s shoulders seemed to relax at her words; he smiled, and his pinkie finger hooked around hers. With his other hand, he produced his mobile phone, opened the lock screen and placed it before Rey.

“Great idea. Put in your number?”

Rey briefly contemplated saving her number under some flirty name, but decided against it.

“Did you know that G. Lucas is in town on Friday? Signing books in a small bookstore, and reading a teaser from the new one? Maybe we could go together? And maybe have dinner afterwards?” Ben looked at her hopefully.

“It’s a date.”

Ben rose and offered his hand to help her up, letting his hands brush against her skin while helping her into her jacket, and rested his hand gently on the small of her back on their way out to the car, as if suddenly emboldened. Rey cherished his touch; she soaked it up, for the memory of it would have to tide her over until Friday.

Later, when she dropped down onto her bed, chilled from the bike commute home, a message from Ben warmed her up.

‘Text me when you’re home.’

Who knew that her TA, who she first noticed as an inspiration for writing fanfiction would turn out to be someone who worried whether she made it home in one piece, the special someone whose worrying made her heart beat faster?

Friday couldn’t come quickly enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [RedPaladin465](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedPaladin465/pseuds/RedPaladin465/works) for betaing this story. You are the best!


End file.
